How the Soviet Union Took Mongolia to Space

The Interkosmos program was the Soviet Union’s bold initiative to bring spaceflight beyond the superpowers, allowing astronauts from socialist and allied nations—like Czechoslovakia, Cuba, and Mongolia—to visit space decades before other major countries. From launching international satellites to sending the first Afghan and Vietnamese cosmonauts into orbit, Interkosmos was a unique experiment in space diplomacy, science, and Cold War politics. But was this truly about scientific collaboration, or was it more of a propaganda tool in the USSR’s ideological rivalry with the West? In this episode, we explore the history of Interkosmos, its impact on global spaceflight, and the fascinating (and sometimes bizarre) stories of the people who took part in this one-of-a-kind program.

00:00 - Intro
02:03 - The Birth of Interkosmos
05:13 - The First Stage: Satellites and Scientific Cooperation
07:13 - Expanding the Program
11:09 - The Era of International Cosmonauts
15:15 - The Final Years of Interkosmos

(It should be "Hungary" instead of "Bulgaria" at 14:22, sorry)

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Links:

Sources:
Special thanks to Ivan Konyukhov and the Cat_Cat community for their terrific coverage of the topic
L.A. Vedeshin. International cooperation in the field of earth exploration from space // Earth exploration from space : journal. - 2010. - № 2. - С. 37-53. - ISSN 0205-9614.
V.A. Kotelnikov. Destiny, embracing the century. / ed. by A.S. Prokhorov. - Fizmatlit, 2011. - VOL. 2. - P. 235. - ISBN 978-5-9221-1332-8.
C.A. Nikitin. USSR: international cooperation in space // Cosmonautics, astronomy : collection. - Znanie, 1991. - № 5.
Hardesty V., Eisman D. History of Space Rivalry between the USSR and the USA. SPb., 2009. 221 P.
Gerovitch S. Voices of the Soviet Space Program: cosmonauts, soldiers and engineers who took the USSR into Space. NY, 2014. P. 147.
Chladek J. Outposts on the Frontier: A Fifty-Year History of Space Stations. Lincoln&London, 2017. P. 69.
Bergess, Colin; Vis, Bert (2015). Interkosmos - The Eastern Bloc's Early Space Program. New York: Springer Praxis. p. 11. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-24163-0
Favorsky V.V., Meshcheryakov I.V. Cosmonautics and Rocket and Space Industry: Development of the Industry (1976-1992). Cooperation in Space. Book 2. М., 2003. P. 30.
Sasges G. Symbolizing (in)dependence: Vietnam, Intercosmos, and the strategic ambiguity of late socialist ritual // The Russian Journal of Vietnamese Studies. - 2019. - Vol. 3. - N. 4. - P. 48-56. doi: 10.24411/2618-9453-2019-10039

Hey there. Somehow you found my video and decided to watch it. So let me introduce myself. I'm Sergei and I'm from Russia. My channel is about my native country. I want to tell English-speaking viewers about the real Russia, about its past and present. Unfortunately, you can find a lot of propaganda about Russia on the Internet, both from the Russian media and from the Western ones. I want to tell you about Russia, as it really is, the country in which I was born, grew up, and lived all my life.

[ABBA_]

Romanian not smuggling something challenge: impossible

[ABBA_]

You drop something insane like the “Cotton Case” with almost no elaboration. That sounds absolutely crazy! 😮

[kirillshumakov]

The video is great! One remark: 8:24 - Apollo-Soyuz project was initiated around that time, yeah, but the flight was conducted in 1975, this year is the celebration of its half-a-century.

[seneketh]

Sad that we are able to shake hands in space, but not here on earth. Incredible initiative nonetheless. Thanks.

[infinitimeinfinitime]

Interesting trivia about the Chinese.

They turned down the Soviet offer due to the Sino-Soviet split.
However, when the US made a similar offer in the 1980s to have a Chinese astronaut on the space shuttle, the offer was also turned down.

Rumour was that Beijing wanted their first citizen in space to have gotten there on China's own efforts, not as a guest of one of the two super powers.

[singletona]

Having read about the soviet space statioons/long duration missions? I always found it interesting that they had people from not just the soviet republics but other friendly nations such as cuba sending people up.

Granted I find the space stations themselves facinating but that's mostly because I find space itself to be facinating.

[markclark]

Fun fact - the journey of Sigmund Jahn into space plays a role in the plot of the German movie "Goodbye Lenin." As an American, his was the only name among the Intercosmos participants I recognized, even though I actually worked at NASA for two years in the mid-1980s, and I only knew his name because I later wached the movie.

[Sig]

Yup, here in Poland we are aware of that program, it gave us the (so far) only Polsh "kosmonaut" Mirosław Hermaszewski. In few months, decades later, there will be a second one with a mission to ISS via European Space Agency - Sławosz Uznański-Wiśniewski.

[ImtheHitcher]

err actually I DID hear about it cause my family is Cuban, so there. (nice video as always btw)

[xsc]

Spaceflight 10 years after soviet occupation brought mixed feelings in Czechoslovakia. There is one joke on this: "Není maso nejsou auta, zato máme kosmonauta. Jmenuje se Remek, česky ani nemek" = There is no meat, no cars, but we have a cosmonaut. His name is Remek but he cant say a word in Czech. Because during first TV direct broadcast he had a problem to speak Czech after 2 years in USSR "StarCity".
Similar statue as in 2:07 is still in Prague near metro station Háje, called Kosmonautů in communist times.

[GaryDeeks]

I actually asked if you're going to cover Interkosmos on one of your videos a while ago! Thanks for making the video!

[timornoscommovet]

Thanks for mentioning Sigmund Jähn ! He was an absolute treasure of a man and the character-wise opposite of so many "celebs" in the media (despite being used as a role model figure by the east german propaganda)


Fun fact: Unlike the other cosmonauts from socialist countries, the romanian Dorin Prunariu was not made a national hero because he was in danger of becoming more popular than Ceausescu and his wife 🤭

[eindalton]

I actually immediately knew what you were talking about, since I am Bulgarian.

[stefangherman]

15:05 Yay didn't butchered a romanian name. Also Dumitru Prunariu meet Jügderdemiidin Gürragchaa on Salyut 6. And the before Prunariu's flight, the commander of the Soyuz spacecraft, Leonid Popov, had flown with Pham Tuan.
And Soyuz spacecraft in which Prunariu had flown, it can be seen at the Museum of the Military in Bucharest.

[Ooorky]

Oh I heard about it.

Going through the school system I heard it a lot of times, even met the only Hungarian astronaut who was part of the program (went to the same high school).

[mitchyoung]

Kupustin Yar has to be the best name for a Cosmodrome

[avus-kwf]

crazy that a crime can be discovered from space 🇩🇪🤝🇷🇺

[ABBA_]

Unfortunately Georgi never got to do his experiments due to that engine problem. He is still alive btw and he lead a very interesting life!

[thebandofbastards]

I wonder if you will do a video about soviet relations with Romania

[stekra]

Austria only had one Person in Space Franz Viehböck